Once More Unto the Breach

The Governor of New York State has let it be known that he will soon begin to demolish the foundation of society.

Of course, he didn’t put it quite that way. Instead, he promised to push for the passage of the so-called “Marriage Equality Act”, which would re-define marriage, which is the fundamental support of a healthy society. The Governor is apparently not satisfied with the authentic meaning of marriage — a union of one man and one woman dedicated to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of children. Instead, he wants to change it to mean something that it cannot — a union between persons of the same sex.

Several times in recent years, the State Assembly has passed the bill to re-define marriage, but it has only come up for a vote once in the Senate, where it was defeated in 2009. But it has risen again, and it appears that the Governor will put some of his considerable political muscle behind it.

This, in a state where there is a marriage and family crisis — where 41% of births are out-of-wedlock, only 66% of households with children are headed by a married couple, and there are over 50,000 divorces in families with children under 18. Now is hardly the time to re-define marriage, leaving people with the impression that it is all about adult satisfaction and not about children, and that children don’t need both a mother and a father who are in a stable, life-long relationship.

For more information about this critical issue, and how you can take action, visit the webpage of the Family Life/Respect Life Office. There you can find resources to get the pro-marriage message into our parishes and communities, and to answer some of the common misconceptions about this issue.

Ultimately, we need to make clear that this is not about “equal rights” or “discrimination”. Same sex couples have the right to live as they wish, but nobody has the right to re-define marriage for all of society. Please take action today to defend marriage.

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6 Responses to “Once More Unto the Breach”

We live in a muddled society that thinks secondhand smoke is the worst thing that can happen, where homosexual evil is disguised as a civil rights movement; where so many Catholics (and non-Catholics, and atheists,) can’t see any reason why gays shouldn’t be allowed to marry. Clarity is not ours.

We are like sheep being led to the slaughter. State promotion of homosexual behavior will become fully justified, especially in schools, where small children, will be exposed to and encouraged to question their sexuality and engage in homosexual experimentation. Gay-straight Alliance clubs will increase in numbers and the explicit promotion of homosexual sex as normal will increase. Little will be said about the extreme risks of venereal diseases, cancers, alcohol and drug use, depression and other emotional problems, and suicides. This is the culture of death advancing on our hearts, our minds, our very souls.

We need an earthquake to wake up. I think Archbishop Dolan needs to step forward in a very public way as he did with abortion. Perhaps a Youtube message (Bishop Tobin’s warnings included in your 3.7.11 Varia apply to New York as well). The destruction of marriage will only happen if we let it (Tobin’s “apathy”) but we need a shepherd to frame the argument — show us the way.

How about saying what it is…….a sin against God, nature, and mankind. SIN, something not heard too much these days from our Catholic leaders.

Mr. Mechmann you can bemoan the governor of this state all you want, as I do; but bishops like Dolan, Hubbard (albany), etc DO NOTHING. He will continue to approach the altar and be given the Body and Blood of our Lord – to the shame of the Bishops……. Governor Cuomo – according to Canon Law – ceased to be Catholic the minute he publicly and knowingly pushed for society to accept what is contrary to Church teaching. And thats leaving aside his public concubinage with a married (sacramentally) woman.

But you will never hear this from Dolan
You will never see Cuomo refused Communion
You will never hear the Bishops go against him
You will never see any Bishop disciplined from Rome for this
You will never see a priest told to refuse him at the altar
But, you will see courageous priests disciplined for refusing him

I guess it comes down to, what do the Bishops fear most, the condemnation of man, or the judgement of God for denying Him? Unforunately today, the Bishops fear offending man more than offending God.

The answer to the gay marriage “debate” is not found in sociology, psychology, etc. It is found in scripture and the sure teaching of the Catholic Church – when its leaders have the guts to proclaim it.
Rome burns and the Bishops fiddle away, happy to be loved by the world…….

Here is what Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, said, in regard to the “civil unions” bill passed recently in that state, and what to do about Catholic legislators:

I think we need to take into account that they’re most directly accountable to voters. We bishops make clear Church teaching, and if someone strays, we address it in private pastoral conversations. As for public accountability, that’s where the Catholic faithful have the major responsibility. It’s really not fair when Catholic voters elect politicians opposed to Church teaching, then look to the Church for reproval. Bishops are not in a position to order politicians how to vote, but we try to form their consciences on the basis of Church teaching. If Catholic voters would be clearer in terms of what they expect from Catholic politicians, that’s the clearest form of accountability.

Mr Mechmann,
That statement by the bishop is laughable……The statement “We bishops make clear Church teaching” is very funny. If that were true then they would do the very thing the Bishop says he can’t do…and “private pastoral conversations” is exactly what Dolan and Hubbard supposedly did. And Cuomo came out of that more energized to pass a gay marriage law; and of course Hubbard says nothing. I’m beginning to believe that Hubbard agrees with the Governor. I can’t think of any other explanation. Cuomo publicly mocks Church teaching in many areas; while wearing his “catholicism” on his sleeve. Therefore, justice and clarity for the benefit of the faithful demands a public response from the Church hierarchy.

And the fact that many so-called Catholics put men like Cuomo in office is precisely the fault of the Bishops. They have watered down Catholic teaching to the point where out catechesis is not unlike the Unitarians or any other liberal heretical sect. So his complaints about what the Catholic voters do should end up right back at his doorstep – where the blame belongs.

I find it hard to believe that anyone who has read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Evengelium Vitae, Living the Gospel of Life, Between Man and Woman, or any of the other statements from the Holy See or the US bishops on marriage and human life would find them “watered down”.

If there is any fault for infidelity here, it lies with those who have chosen to ignore the truth as proclaimed by the Church.